EU chief: Brexiteers could face the guillotine

LEADERS of the Leave campaign could ‘end up on the guillotine’, a senior member of the European Parliament has suggested.

Guy Verhofstadt issued the provocative warning after it was claimed that Tory MPs have likened Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg to those who led the French Revolution.

At a press conference in Strasbourg, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator referenced a Politico article that said the UK ‘awaits its Brexit Napoleon’.

Mr Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, said: ‘I know that within the Tory Party the hard Brexiteers are compared to the leaders of the French Revolution. I think Gove is Brissot, Boris Johnson is Danton and Rees-Mogg is compared to Robespierre. But we should not forget that the efforts of these men were not appreciated by the common man they claimed to represent because they all ended on the guillotine.’

Mr Verhofstadt, who was speaking ahead of a meeting with Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster David Lidington, urged Brexiteers to compromise.

He suggested that Theresa May should work with Jeremy Corbyn to get a deal through the House of Commons. ‘It’s completely irresponsible of the hardliners to reject such cross-party cooperation because a No Deal scenario is a disaster for everybody and especially for the UK,’ Mr Verhofstadt said.

The Brexit coordinator said that the Government and Opposition were not as far apart as some believed, adding: ‘It would surprise me that a country that has shown so much political creativity in its long history would not be able to overcome these differences and find a broad majority in the House of Commons.’

He later tweeted: ‘Despite meetings with UK representatives, including Prime Minister Theresa May, [Mr] Lidington and [Mr] Barclay I’m yet to hear of a proposal to break Brexit deadlock.